Slow cooker beef ragu rigatoni. Here’s a recipe that really makes the slow cooker shine: a deliciously tender shredded beef ragu sauce paired with rigatoni pasta. Sometimes I feel guilty when months go by and I haven’t used my slow cooker at all. It’s such a fabulous appliance that I really enjoying cooking with, so I’m loath to see it collecting dust on a shelf.

Recently, I came across an old recipe of mine from years ago — a saucy ragu pasta — and I thought that it would be a perfect slow cooker recipe. It’s practically the poster child for slow cooker recipes because it requires very tender shredded beef, which requires long hours of cooking. To make it, all you need is a budget cut of beef, rigatoni pasta, a few veggies, a can of crushed tomatoes, and some spices. Hours later, you’ll end up with delicious meaty pasta that will have your house smelling great and persistent questions from everyone asking when it’s going to be ready to eat.

My recipe is different from your typical ragu recipe because everything cooks in one pot — the slow cooker. This includes the rigatoni pasta, which means you don’t need to use a separate pot to boil water for cooking the pasta. The rigatoni is added during the last steps of the recipe, and because it’s cooked in the slow cooker, it has the soft and tender texture of baked pasta. It takes my slow cooker about 4.

Let your oven do all the work with Trisha Yearwood's Baked Spaghetti for Food Network. Pasta Recipes. Perfect pasta recipes like beef ravioli, baked macaroni and cheese, and garlic shrimp linguine. Make it a pasta night tonight! jump to the recipes.

• Get Baked Bean Casserole Recipe from Food Network.
• This easy baked ziti is a HUGE family favorite. We make it several times a month. Creamy, cheesy pasta topped with a beefy spaghetti sauce!

Optionally, you can cook your pasta separately by boiling it in a separate pot. If you do so, you should add less beef stock to the slow cooker (1/2 cup only). After the pasta is cooked, stir it with the beef ragu sauce in the slow cooker so that the pasta can absorb the sauce. You might be wondering about substitutions that you can make: Beef: Almost any cut of beef will work for this recipe since it’s slow cooked for hours. I prefer leaner cuts with the fat trimmed, and boneless. I recommend using beef stew meat or flank steak.

There’s no need to use any expensive cut of beef since it’s going to be slow cooked until it’s practically falling apart. This is where you can use a budget cut of beef and it will taste great regardless. Pasta: The recipe’s liquid amounts and cooking estimates are for rigatoni pasta. You can certainly substitute with your favorite kind of pasta — pappardelle is a common choice for ragus like this — but you will need to make other adjustments to the recipe accordingly. Depending on what you use, you may need to cook for longer or shorter periods of time until the pasta is tender and you may need to add more liquid if the slow cooker gets too dry. I recommend using a slow cooker liner — if you haven’t used it before, it’s essentially a large disposable bag that you place over your slow cooker.

The food goes directly into the bag and it makes cleanup really easy. It’s safe to use and I use it all the time, especially for stickier foods that tend to stick to the pot. Apparently, you can even use multiple liners to cook multiple dishes at a time.

Eggplant and ground beef are favorite ingredients in Turkish kitchens. Health Benefits Of Strawberries there. Try this homestyle recipe and see how well these two flavors go together.

If you don’t have a slow cooker, you can make this recipe using a dutch oven instead. Follow the recipe as instructed except for the cooking time estimates. The beef is done when it takes very minimal effort to shred it using forks — there shouldn’t be much resistance at all, otherwise it needs more cooking — and the rigatoni is done when it’s tender to taste. For more meaty beef dishes, check out my Hungarian beef goulash, beef stroganoff with flank steak and mushrooms, and Mongolian beef.

Baked Rigatoni with Tomatoes and Eggplant. My newest casserole obsession: baked rigatoni with Mediterranean- spiced meat sauce, layers of broiled eggplant and fresh tomato! For those times when you need a comforting, still lighter, everything- in- one dish! Rigatoni is one of those large, satisfying pastas that I keep on hand for chaotic, comfort- demanding times. We all have those, right? Admittedly, my aim with this baked rigatoni was to have a complete meal–meat, veggies, and starch- all in one tidy casserole. In my book, it’s a dream meal when you don’t have to prepare a bunch of “filler” side dishes.

Yes, as with most casseroles, this baked rigatoni is one of those some- assembly- required dishes. But, you can definitely prepare it in advance and pop it in the oven the next day. In a nutshell, it’s layers of cooked rigatoni pasta, broiled eggplant, and an exceptionally tasty Mediterranean- spiced tomato meat sauce nestled in between. You can use lean ground beef or even turkey, but the secret to the sauce is in the aromatics. Fresh onions, garlic, and a killer trio of quality all- natural and organic spices: sweet Spanish paprika; nutmeg, and Rosemary.

I chose to keep cheese to a minimum; just a top melty layer of fresh mozzarella, which you can increase or omit as you need to. All you need is your favorite wine and a great green salad to complete the feast! Try this Simple Mediterranean Salad, fattoush, or Greek salad, for example. Print. Author: The Mediterranean Dish Prep Time: 2. Cook Time: 4. 5 mins. Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes. Yield: 6 to 8. Instructions.

Prepare Eggplant. Place eggplant slices on a large tray.

Sprinkle generously with salt and set aside for 2. Pat dry when ready.

Turn your oven on broil. Spray or brush the eggplant generously with extra virgin olive oil. Place on top rack of heated oven to broil for 4- 5 minutes or so, watching very carefully. The eggplant should “wilt” and brown.

Remove from heat and set aside.  (you will need to switch oven to bake later)Prepare Pasta. Cook pasta in boiling water to al dante according to package instructions. This might take about 1.

I like to add a generous pinch of salt and about 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil to the boiling water. When ready, drain, reserving a little bit of the pasta cooking water. Prepare meat sauce. While the pasta is cooking, heat 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil in a large deeper pan like this one . Cook the onions over medium- high heat until translucent, about 3 minutes, tossing regularly. Add garlic and cook for another minute, again tossing regularly. Leaving the heat on medium- high, add meat and spices, salt and black pepper. Using a wooden spoon, break the meat into smaller piece, continue to stir until meat is fully cooked through and has browned.

On most stoves, this will take 7 minutes or so. Now add the canned crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce.

Bring to a boil, then lower to simmer for 1. Carefully taste and adjust salt, if needed add more salt. Preheat oven to 3. F and position a rack in the middle.

Assemble the rigatoni casserole. Spoon a little bit of the meat sauce to cover the bottom of a large 1. Add about 1/2 of the pasta. Assemble the broiled eggplant on top, then add half the meat sauce. Now add the remaining pasta and top with the remaining meat sauce.

Finally, assemble fresh tomatoes and mozzerlla slices on the very top. Place on middle rack of heated oven. Bake for 2. 0 minutes or so. If needed, switch to broil and place rigatoni casserole back on top rack briefly. Watch carefully until top of the rigatoni casserole gains some good color (you’re looking for some of the pasta to even crisp up…the tomato and mozzarella may char or brown in some spots). Serve hot with a side of green salad of your choice.

You might also like this simple Mediterranean salad, Fattoush or this traditional Greek salad. More Recipes To try: Simple Mediterranean Olive Oil Pasta. Blackened Chicken and Spaghetti. Greek Chicken and Potato Dinner.